When You Booze by Gershon Wolf
At first he drank to be one of the boys
To act a bit rowdy, to make some noise
He couldn't resist all the teen peer pressure
Just couldn't say 'No;' had to say 'Yes sir'
Off to college he went to the land of beer tents
Where drinking's the pastime of well-educated gents
Our hero could be found, where pop-tops did sound
Stumbling drunkenly around, or face down on the ground
Armed with a degree, into the world of business he marched
Just like in college, he found his throat dry and parched
At midday he made time to imbibe a liquid lunch
From Monday to Friday, he dipped his cup in the pun
One rain-pouring day, he wobbled to his car
Jumped on the freeway, to fight the rush-hour war
Only this time, reflexes, lulled to sleep by drink
He drove into the guardrail, and his life went 'clink'
His family and friends feigned surprise at the news
They didn't believe what you can lose when you booze...
REFLECTION
"When You Booze" by Gershon Wolf touches on the danger of drinking and being addicted to alcohol. The poem starts with a young boy who is pressured to start consuming alcohol just to be accepted, but unfortunately this behaviour continues as he grows up making him meets a tragic end. The poem is easy to understand as the poet uses clear and direct diction, the poem is also written in choronological order. An interesting figurative language is when Wolf uses the onomatopoeia 'clink' in the fourth stanza to describe the death of the protagonist. The onomatopoeia 'clink' represents the sound of wine glasses struck together for a toss.
The pressure to drink and rebel is very common around teenagers. There are many reasons why they do this, it could be because of their family background, coping mechanism, a way to run away from reality, or merely wanting to be 'cool.' Often times they would drag other teens too and if their friends refuse to do so, they would call them a loser and not cool. To avoid this label, the protagonist of the poem tries to drink.
What starts off as a way to "be one of the boys" in teenage years, ends up becoming a destructive habit that continues until adulthood. Our protagonist goes to college and it's more likely that this behaviour gets worse, implied in the second stanza in the line "our hero could be found, where pop-tops did sound" and "stumbling drunkenly around, or face down on the ground." Having his drinking habit gets worse because of going to college is inevitable because now he has more freedom as an adult, drinking is now legal for him and he probably has more time and access to drink alcohol. Lifestyle as college student also accomodates his drinking habit, things like parties and celebrations are more accessible as college students and events like will most likely include drinking. According to Alcohol Rehab Guide website, the percentage of students who consume alcohol goes up to about 80% and a lot of starts drinking before they go to college.
Even after graduating, our protagonist still cannot resist the urge of drinking. Now he even drinks for lunch on weekdays. At this point, he is already addicted and it is probably very hard for him to stop, so much so that his throat is "dry and parched" as written in the poem. Other than that, factors such as stress from work and, probably, other peer pressure may push him further to this dangerous habit.
Eventually, he meets tragic end. One day, he drives in freeway to avoid rush hour when it's rainy. Intoxicated, he crashes into an accident as he drives to the guardrail, losing his life. Interestingly, his family is shocked hearing this news because they don't think that he would die because of drunk driving. The poet ends the poem with the line: "they didn't believe what you can lose when you booze..."
Life. You can lose your life when you booze.
REFERENCE
“College Alcoholism.” Alcohol Rehab Guide, Alcohol Rehab Guide, 1 Mar. 2022, https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/resources/college-alcohol-abuse/.
Wolf, Gershon. “When You Booze.” PoetrySoup, 2019, https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/when_you_booze_1145410.
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